# Circle category icons in mobile nav: +11% conversion on mobile

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Navigation & menu (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/ab-tests-shopify/utilising-story-widgets
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/stone-creek-coffee-mobile-circle-category-nav/

Replacing a text-based category menu with circular category icons raised mobile conversion rate by 11% for Stone Creek Coffee. Mobile revenue per visitor rose 12%, but both new designs hurt desktop, so the change went live on mobile only. Blend Commerce ran this A/B/C test across desktop and mobile.

## Result

**+11% conversion on mobile**

- Mobile conversion rate: +11% with circle icons.
- Mobile revenue per visitor: +12%.
- Mobile subscription revenue per visitor: +385%. That is a very large jump, likely from a small base, so read it with care.
- Pill labels also won on mobile: +9% conversion, +8% revenue per visitor.
- Desktop: both variants lowered conversion and revenue per visitor. This is a negative result for desktop.

## Control

Shoppers reached categories through a multi-step, text-based menu. On mobile that meant several taps; on desktop a hover menu did the job.

## Variant

Circular category icons gave shoppers visual, one-tap routes into product ranges. A third arm tested pill-shaped text labels instead.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- On mobile the old menu took several taps. Icons cut that to one.
- Images help shoppers recognise a coffee range faster than a text label does.
- On desktop the hover menu was already quick, so the new widgets added little and took focus away from it.

## Caveats

Sample size, duration and confidence level were not shared. The win is mobile only; desktop lost, and the brand rolled out on mobile alone.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace the multi-step mobile menu with tappable category icons, then mobile conversion will rise because shoppers reach the right range in fewer taps.
- Primary metric: Mobile conversion rate
- Guardrail: Desktop conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Subscription revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with several distinct ranges and mostly mobile traffic. Segment results by device, because a design that wins on mobile can lose on desktop, as it did here.

---

Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/stone-creek-coffee-mobile-circle-category-nav/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.